


Pancake Mix

by sdlucly



Series: The Pancake Mix [1]
Category: The OC (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Not quite pre-slash, Ryan being happy with someone that isn't Seth, Seth being a bit of an idiot, college fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 19:00:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sdlucly/pseuds/sdlucly
Summary: in a bowl, combine--





	Pancake Mix

**Author's Note:**

> Bittersweet, in a way, because I can't stop myself. Future fic.

_in a bowl, combine_

Seth walks out of class with Lara in tow, still half asleep, because 7am classes in their third year should be illegal.

"I need breakfast," Lara says, and Seth rolls his eyes. He wants to remind her that they have another class in one hour, but she's dragging him to the cafeteria, and somehow he ends up with a plate filled with chocolate pancakes while she's having a bowl of cereal.

"I didn't order this," he says, eyeing the pancakes warily, before turning to look at her.

Lara answers in between stuffing her face full of cereal. "No, I did. You look like you have manorexia or something, Seth. You gotta eat more. Or, you know. Eat."

Seth doesn't say anything back at her, it wouldn't do any good, anyway, and he's probably paid for the pancakes and her cereal anyway, so he might as well take a bite.

_add_

The pancakes are soft on his tongue, and the butter seems to melt. He closes his eyes and he can't help but think, they are good, but they aren't Ryan's pancakes.

And then he remembers. Ryan, standing in the middle of their kitchen in Newport, mixing flour and sugar with eggs and milk, while Seth sat on the stool, one elbow on the kitchen island, eyes glued to Ryan's back, the way he moved, like he'd done this a dozen times, a hundred times.

_My recipe_ , Ryan had said once with, and Seth had nodded on all the right placed, unable to tear his eyes away from the line of Ryan's neck, the curve of his jaw. 

_The secret_ , Ryan had said, _is to sprinkle the chocolate chip on the batter while it cooks, rather than mix it into the batter._

Seth hadn't known it'd make that much of a difference. And the pancake had been soft, not too sugary, not too little, but just right.

_stir in_

Lara's elbow on his ribs makes him blink, back into the here and now. He looks down at his cell, Summer's name blinking on the screen, and for a second all he can think of is the pancakes and the sun through the windows and the way Ryan had looked at him over his shoulder.

"You gonna answer?" Lara asks, and Seth looks down at the cell.

It stops ringing, vibrating on the table. "I can call her tomorrow."

_pour_

It's stupid, Seth thinks, to be impulsive and an idiot and what the hell is he going to say to Ryan, anyway? I was eating pancakes and I thought I should apologize for all the times I didn't call, or emailed, or came to visit and for how jealous I was of Sophie that you were playing with her when you used to see me and only me?

Yeah, that part... no, not saying that part.

He hasn't brought the pancakes with him because he didn't think they'd survive the plane, and him looking for Ryan's dorm room that he's never even been to. He had to call his mother to ask her for the address, and God, when did they turn into these people? The kind that only talk on holidays and ask each other how they are without really caring about the answer?

Seth looks down at his hands, at the small satchel by his feet with barely two changes of clothes. And yes, it's his fault, and he has no idea how it came down to this, but he's gonna fix it. It's been three years, but he's gonna fix it. They still have time.

Seth looks up and he can see Berkeley just up ahead.

_and finally, keep warm_

Ryan's on his back in nothing but skin, legs opened wide. He has a lazy smile on his face, right hand moving slowly down Matthew's bare back, making him shiver.

"Stop it," Matthew mutters against Ryan's collarbone, but doesn't mean it, so Ryan only smiles.

Ryan presses a small kiss against the top of a dark hair of curls, grinning as he does so. "I was thinking we could go for lunch at the house this Saturday."

Ryan feels Matthew groan against his chest, shake his head. "Why not?"

"It's not that I don't like your parents--"

"Good, because they really liked you--"

"But... I think your sister hates me."

Ryan can't help but laugh. When he looks again, Matthew's looking right back at him, seriousness in his eyes.

"I'm not kidding," Matthew says, but he is. He has to be.

"She's three."

"So?" Matthew snorts in the back of his throat. "She hates me."

"She hates no one."

"Oh, that's what you think, oh favorite brother of hers." Matthew shakes his head. "Nope. Not going."

"Matty--"

He can almost feel Matthew blushing, but he likes the endearment and Matthew hasn't actually told him to stop calling him that; too many times, that is.

Matthew's arms tighten around Ryan's side, and Ryan feels a tingle down his spine, and maybe in a few minutes they'll go for round two, but right now he wants to finish talking about this. "I swear--"

"God, she's three, she doesn't--"

"You didn't see the way she looked at me when you kissed me on the backyard. She was wondering right there and then if it'd be easier to kill me in the car or hide my body in between the trees. Like in It's Alive."

Ryan almost chokes on his own laugh, and after he coughs a few times, he slaps Matthew's ass. "You did not just compare my little sister with a human eating baby, did you?"

Matthew doesn't say anything, and Ryan sighs and tilts his head back. His right hand still draws patterns on the low of Matthew's back, and he can feel Matthew's interest growing against his leg.

Matthew starts kissing Ryan's throat with renewed fervor, and in between touches and skin against skin, Ryan says, "we're still going." Matthew snorts, but doesn't say anything, just bites a little harder on Ryan's collarbone.

They are too busy to see a taxi park outside the building, and a dark haired boy step out, satchel thrown over his shoulder, paper held in between fingers, with the address he's looking for.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so that what I meant when I said it was a bit bittersweet. And not Ryan/Seth. God, I've had the idea of Seth kinda walking in on Ryan with another guy FOR AGES but never really got around to write it. At least now it's out there.
> 
> Originally posted in livejournal, January 2011.


End file.
